1. In order not to perish, look for a new piece of cheese.
2. In order to find a new piece of cheese, you must get rid of your old cheese.
3. Break the barrier of fear and enjoy research and adventure because you will inevitably meet what you are better than you are.
4. Expect change, because cheese is constantly in motion.
5. Change who you are before trying to change others.
It is a story, but not like a story
A story that no one had read but learned a lot from it
A symbolic story, but it changed many lives
The secret is that it has provided an amazing way to deal with change in your work and in your entire life
This story is a summary of a book of the same title by Spencer Johnson
I found this summary on one of the websites and decided to pass it on to you
It is an allegory that tells of four characters
There were two dwarves, one named Haw and the other Hem, in a maze with two mice. Their goal in life was to find a piece of cheese that they would enjoy comfort and stability next to. Each of them followed a method in searching for this piece of their dreams.
The mice followed a trial and error method and ran into dark or dead ends. And every time they did not find what they wanted, they came back and looked again.
As for the dwarfs, they followed the way of thinking, so they collided with their beliefs and ideas to reach their goal, and every day they wore sports shoes and took their way in the maze to find the piece of cheese.
They all continued to do so until they found the piece of cheese. So they rejoiced very much. They started dreaming and planning; Some of them wanted to be a family, and some wanted to enjoy a piece of cheese and its taste. The dwarfs even built two homes near the cheese and pasted their pictures on the walls. And they wrote on the wall:
Cheese makes us happy.
At first everyone was rushing early to the cheese site, walking the same known route, and had their own routine. But after a short period of time, the two dwarfs followed a different routine, waking up late, then walking lazily, without their sneakers, to the cheese station, relaxing and acting as if they were at their home. They were so reassured that they did not notice what was going on.
The two mice continued their daily routine, arriving early to the location of the cheese, inspecting the place to make sure there was no change, and then sitting down to eat the cheese.
One day they came to her, but they did not find her. The mice arrived early and were not surprised because they had noticed its decrease for some time and did not over-analyze the situation. The situation in the place has changed, so they must change. He decided to give the Abusa shoes and discuss again in the maze.
As for the dwarves, Hao and Hem, they kept yelling and shouting, "Whoever moves my cheese." And they started mourning themselves and wondering who took it unlawfully !!. Reality did not believe.
The behavior of the dwarves was understandable, it was not easy to find new cheese and it was their only source of happiness. After a long thought, they decided to examine the place again and return the next day to check if the cheese had been returned to its place.
The next day they did not find it, and on the third day they did not find her. Hem suggested that they bring digging tools to look for. On the fourth day, they brought digging tools and digging until they broke the wall, but they could not find the cheese. For him, he screamed and kept repeating who took my cheese.
When she felt despair and frustration and wasting. Howe tried to convince Hem to go back to the maze path and search again, with fear of this step because he had forgotten the maze path and its paths. However, Hem did not agree to that, justified by his fear that he was comfortable in the place, that he found happiness in it, and that he too had grown old and could not walk the maze path again.
Howe opened his eyes, wondering: Where are the mice? Do you think they know something we don't know? Hem replied sarcastically: They are just two mice, we are smarter than mice. Howe said: I know that we are smarter, but we are not acting smartly at this particular moment. Perhaps the mice now have found another piece of cheese and they are now enjoying it. He justified them, or perhaps they perished on the way. So Hem said: Things are changing here and perhaps it is better for us to change too. .
Why should we change? We are human beings and distinguished, and we should not be exposed to such situations. We have a right, and we must be compensated or at least notified of the change before it happens, and it is not fair for the cowardice to run out suddenly. Howe answered: We have to stop analyzing the situation and start looking for new cheese. However, Hem refused.
Haw thought and determined to change, because if he stayed, he would inevitably perish. When Hem saw his friend wearing his shoes, he hastened, saying, "I cannot believe that you will go to the maze again. You must wait with me here until they return the cheese to us."
Howe replied: No one will return our cheese. We are responsible for ourselves. It is time to search for new cheese. Sometimes things change, and this is the year of life! Life goes on and we must go with it.
Haw set out towards the maze and felt very afraid and kept looking between its corridors, sometimes seeing a dark road and sometimes a dead end, then he was late in his journey and began to sneak up to him in despair until he thought of returning to his owner. Perhaps the piece of cheese had returned, but he had retreated because he realized that this was an unsecured adventure and His feelings are out of fear. He said to himself: It is better to arrive late than not at all.
And he remembered that the piece of cheese was decreasing day by day, and not only that, but that mold started coating it, so he was surprised how he missed that and did not notice it. He had some old cheese in his pocket, and he took it out and noticed how much mold had covered it. So he decided to get rid of it until he could find a new piece of cheese.
Haw began to imagine himself stumbling upon a fresh piece of cheese and tasting it. Then the barrier of fear he felt at first was broken, especially after he had found some few pieces of cheese from here and there. He wrote on the wall: Moving in a new direction helps you find new cheese.
And he began to feel happy in his adventure and search for cheese, although he did not have any cheese. His goal is not just cheese !! But enjoy the adventure and research as well, and denied himself feeling fear at the beginning of the road. Pause again and write on the wall: When you have overcome the fear within you, you feel free.
It was then that his friend Hem remembered: Is he still in position, or has he moved ?! So he decided to write some signs and hang them so that his friend might find them, so he wrote on his sign ((In order not to perish, look for a new piece of cheese)). On another sign, he wrote: ((In order to get a new piece of cheese, you must get rid of your old cheese)) and also: ((In order to get new cheese, you must break the fear barrier within you)).
Haw realized once again that what you fear is not necessarily as bad as your imagination portrays you, and that the fear you are letting out amplifies in your mind is much worse than the situation you are actually in.
He went on his way enjoying the search until he reached a site where he found a piece of cheese that was okay, so he was happy and was satisfied with it at the beginning, but he remembered his old experience: that cheese will not remain as it is, but will diminish or become infected with rot, so he decided to eat cheese and then return to the maze searching About another piece and then return.
He remained in this condition until one day he found a large mountain of mixed cheese, and he was very happy with it and started to eat and eat. Not surprisingly, mice were found in the same place eating and they looked obese. They seemed to have arrived long ago. Faran welcomed him and expressed the preference coming and turnout to change.
But he discovered that change is a blessing from the grace of God Almighty because it led him to find cheese first and secondly to one of his hidden powers inside him, then he made sure that a person’s self-discovery is more important than the discovery of cheese.
He remembered his friend and how he failed to convince him, and he realized that in order for Him to change, he must change himself and his way of thinking, then wrote on the wall: You have to ask others to change, but do not try to force them to do so whoever does not change from the inside will never change.
So he wrote what he concluded on his board and hung it in front of him so that it would not be repeated:
1. In order not to perish, look for a new piece of cheese.
2. In order to find a new piece of cheese, you must get rid of your old cheese.
3. Break the barrier of fear and enjoy research and adventure because you will inevitably meet what you are better than you are.
4. Expect change, because cheese is constantly in motion.
5. Change who you are before trying to change others.
Howe heard what he thought was a sound coming from the edges of the maze .. Then the sound got louder as if someone was about to enter the store. Howe asked, "Is he about to see the face of his old friend Hem ... enter the store pale, exhausted from hunger and tired of walking?"
Haw muttered a short supplication, filling him with hope that his friend had finally realized the significance of the change and had decided: Move with cowardice and enjoy life.
For us, a piece of cheese can be a dream about a new home, a promotion at work, or a land liberation.
This is the end of the story .. and it may be a new beginning for managing change in our life and work.
